Numerous Factors Contributed To Slump

The airline pilot hiring total's are in for 2008... and AIR Inc. reports the numbers are less than half of what they were this time a year ago - 6,479 compared to 13,157 in 2007. There were a lot of factors driving 2008's low hiring numbers -- the softening economy, the credit crunch, the housing crisis, and the ever increasing fuel prices to name a few.

National airlines held the lead in hiring adding 2,601 new crewmembers, followed by the majors carriers with 2,601, Non-Jet Operators with 900, Jet Operators with 539, Fractionals with 395, and Crew Leasing, Foreign, Training, Start-up, and Very Light Jet categories added 728 new pilots to their flight decks.

Of the 92,348 pilots employed industry wide, 4,494 are currently furloughed, an increase of 1,400 from this time last year. AIR, Inc predicts 5,000 new airline pilot jobs for 2009.

Forty-eight out of 175 (27%) of the airlines that report to AIR, Inc. are still hiring pilots. No major airline was interviewing or hiring in October. Two national airlines, four jet operators and 16 non-jet carriers are still hiring.

The crew leasing and foreign sectors are still adding crewmembers to their flight decks monthly... though one wonders how long even those once-dependable hiring sectors will continue to see growth.

AIR Inc. took special note of FedEx... which analysts expect will report a huge drop in profits. As ANN reported, if that's the case the package-shipping giant will be forced to cut jobs, retire jets and scale back expansion plans.

FedEx has already announced it will be retire all (14) DC-10s, park all (66) A310s and replace its 85 B727s with B757s. The shipping giant has also said it is overstaffed by 700 pilots, though for now FedEx plans to cut flight hours to avoid furloughs.

FMI: www.jet-jobs.com